The Minnesota Vikings have an elite coaching staff, which starts with head coach Kevin O’Connell but very much includes defensive coordinator Brian Flores.
Flores has spent the last three seasons as the DC in Minneapolis and has achieved great success in that role. Most recently, his schemes disrupted the Detroit Lions and quarterback Jared Goff to the tune of six turnovers during a nationally televised game on Christmas Day.
Because of the defensive performance, the Vikings defeated the NFC’s overall No. 1 seed in 2024 by a score of 23-10 despite undrafted rookie quarterback Max Brosmer netting just 51 air yards for Minnesota’s offense for the entire game.
Flores has entered the NFL’s offseason coaching cycle as a hot name before. But the Vikings (8-8) are on a four-game win streak, including two victories heavily featuring Brosmer at QB. As such, the 44-year-old DC has potentially more juice than at any point since the Miami Dolphins fired him as their head coach following the 2021 campaign with a career record of 24-25.
But Byron Murphy Jr., the team’s top cornerback who inked a three-year contract extension worth $54 million back in March, wants Flores to sign a new deal of his own. In fact, Murphy demanded it.
“He’s one of the smartest guys when it comes to schemes that I’ve ever been around,” Murphy said, per ESPN’s Kevin Seifert. “So he can’t go anywhere. He’s not allowed to go anywhere. No way.”
Vikings Tried to Sign Brian Flores to Extension Last Year
GettyMinnesota Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores.
The Vikings organization shares Murphy’s respect for Flores, not to mention his fierce desire to keep the coordinator a part of the franchise for years to come.
Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk reported as much on Saturday, December 27.
“Flores, in his third season as the Vikings’ defensive coordinator, is in the final year of his contract. Per a source with knowledge of the situation, the Vikings are currently working toward extending his deal,” Florio wrote. “The Vikings wanted to do it before the 2025 regular season. Flores decided to wait. If he was betting on himself, he won.”
Brian Flores Could Have Chance at 6 Head Coaching Jobs in NFL, or More, During Offseason
GettyMinnesota Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores.
If Flores is going to get another head coaching job, this offseason might be the best chance he is ever going to have.
He issued what became a class-action lawsuit against the NFL — as well as the Dolphins, New York Giants and Denver Broncos — for discriminatory hiring practices in February 2022, a little more than one month after Miami fired him following a 9-8 campaign in his third year with the team.
Bill Barnwell of ESPN on December 18 took a look at eight potential head coaching jobs that might come open over the winter, though two of them could prove next to impossible for Flores to get given his ongoing legal issues with those organizations.
The Giants fired head coach Brian Daboll during the year and will almost certainly be looking for a new lead man this offseason, while the Miami Dolphins could part ways with Mike McDaniel, Flores’ successor in 2022, following the campaign.
Barnwell also noted the Arizona Cardinals, Atlanta Falcons, Cincinnati Bengals, Cleveland Browns, Las Vegas Raiders and Tennessee Titans as teams that may be in the market for a new head coach early next year.
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